Q: We have adopted a dog that was dumped on our street. The first vet we took it to said it was a Border Collie, but since it had no definite 'stop' where the muzzle joins the forehead, it was probably not purebred. At the time the vet guessed his age to be around a year, even though he acted a lot younger. We have had him now for a year and a half at the insistence of my college aged son, who was supposed to train him, etc. I even paid a trainer to take Jake for 2 weeks of training, as we had to be out of town. He did well but the follow-up for reinforcement in long term memory just wasn't done--although he retained most of it, just not on a regular basis.
I should mention that we also have a Shih Tzu female who is the most laid back dog we have ever owned. Even Jake doesn't get on her nerves and he is always in her face. Both dogs are kept in the house and each sleeps on the bed, with either our son or daughter, and they have even both been in bed with my husband and me at the same time without a problem.
We have held back getting Jake neutered because someone told us that doing it too soon would stop the dog maturing behavior-wise. We definitely don't want to do that. Jake is a very loving, licking, always ready to play dog and I know he just doesn't get the opportunity to work off his energy like he should.
The problem we are having with him is the desire on his part to keep us in the house and everyone else out. He is the most vicious sounding animal when anyone comes to the door and I have expected him to go through the screen sometimes to get at whoever is there. If it happens to be 1 of the family or close friend of our son or daughter, who spends a lot of time here, Jake still jumps all over them for attention once they get in the door. If they try to leave he goes hyper again, even to jumping at their backs and nipping at their heels as they try to go out the door.
I had him on the leash outdoors when a kid came up to hand me some mail delivered to the wrong house. As he handed it to me, Jake went for his hand and if I hadn't had him on the other side of me he would have got him. This behavior has to be stopped. I don't want a dog I can't trust not to go after someone in my house. Although Jake is friendly to people who come in from out of town after they have been here awhile, sometimes the guests are small children and I won't take the chance he will bite them so, often, Jake ends up in the large wire cage we use to confine him in when we are all out of the house. This is what works now but I would prefer to stop the behavior instead. I have heard of a training called aversion training that uses collars and high pitched sound but don't know if this is the way to go or not. What would you suggest? Thank you for your attention.
A: Training would probably work with this dog. It sounds like herding behavior rather than defense-driven behavior. By all means, do not delay neutering any longer. It should have been done by the time he was about a year of age.
As you have seen, training done by someone outside the family has limited benefits without follow-up. It would be best if someone in the family takes him to an obedience class every week, for several months. The class homework needs to be practiced every day. He also needs regular, vigorous exercise. Retrieving in the back yard every day could do that, if someone will stick with it.
High-tech equipment won't solve this problem. Training will solve it, and the equipment is no good without the training. Might as well just skip the high-tech stuff and train the dog. Someone has to find time for this dog, or you are right, he's going to be a menace.
That would be a terrible shame, because he's probably extremely bright and willing, and would be the star of his obedience class. I hope you can get someone in the family sufficiently motivated to do what it takes to save his future.